The Age of Solace: The Silver Wolf

Chapter 3: Sparked Curiosity

Glenwood. A small and isolated town located at the Western fringes of the Cardinal kingdom. It was a dastardly place, one that Syrah Jewel was not enjoying her visit to. For one, she was a noble under the Rosenguard kingdom, which made her a rival to the Cardinal Kingdom. And for another, small and quiet towns were not her scene. She was a warrior in training, she should be out in the open world making a difference, slaying demons, monsters, or if she was lucky... a dragon.

But instead, she had been stuck investigating an individual that has been traversing the kingdom and potentially slaying multiple demons. Such a person would be considered as a nice addition to their elite organization, but all members were either already of noble blood, or had earned their nobility. Whether a warrior was born or made noble mattered little in Corvin's Blades, but all had to be proven worthy. An outsider... especially street filth that this person is likely to be, is a stain on their proud upbringings. Many of the warriors that earned their nobility started out with humble beginnings, sure, but all of them had to at least prove their worth through some sort of trial or deed. So why was it that this particular individual would not have to? At least she had her brother here with her, not that it was much consolation.

Glenwood was the most recent incident, as far as this individual went, and even then that string of events had happened months prior. It started out as a reported murder, some old caretaker of a long out-of-use church house, but further investigation revealed feats of inhuman strength, such as the destruction of a statue, and even wielding a large piece of said statue to utterly destroy the interior. There were signs of a struggle, but no blood aside from the potential host body. They were unable to locate the slayer, but slaying a demon inhabiting a body is not a very impressive feat by her standards.

"Is this the place?" Syrah's brother, Cornelius Jewel, asked sarcastically.

Cornelius, like his sister, sported glossy black hair. Syrah preferred to keep hers in a ponytail, as well as tying off her right-side bangs in an effort to keep her vision clear. Cornelius let his hair grow wild, and she often harassed him about getting it cut, though the efforts proved fruitless. They wore similar armor, a common practice for siblings of Corvin's Blades, though it was clear Syrah thought of herself as the better warrior, despite her brother's standing as The Dragon Lord.

Syrah ignored his question, as per usual, and observed the damage on the statues. Upon seeing the one reduced to rubble on the right, she decided to step forth and take a closer look.

"This doesn't make any sense..." Syrah muttered to herself.

"What's that Syrah?" Her brother asked, dropping potential evidence as he ran up beside her.

Rolling her eyes at his antics, she stepped inside the church house, beckoning for Cornelius to follow, and flinching as the door creaked open eerily. Looking around the dilapidated room, she saw the craters in the floor, and the object that likely caused them. It was a very large stone hammer, likely belonging to the broken statue outdoors. Even more curious of the situation, she stepped over the broken chandelier and made her way over to the discarded weapon. Only when she looked up from the stone hammer did she notice the altar at the back of the church house.

There were symbols painted in blood, which now appeared as a dried and ugly brown from age. Candle wax could still be seen on the floor boards, long since dried as well. It seemed as though the town did not do too much to clean up, other than to remove decaying corpses of course. This was some sort of ritual for sure, that much Syrah could tell, but there was the possibility that the actions were committed by a cultist as opposed to a demon. It was too bad her demonology needed some work, because she had no idea what any of those symbols met.